「Independence」

Wow, I never thought I’d see the day where episodes of RAINBOW go smoothly two weeks in a row. Given how the series started six months ago, I’ve been approaching each arc like a complete cynic and expecting the worse from every new face encountered. Sugi was naturally the one I was peering at with suspicious eyes the entire time, but he surprising turned out to be a very understanding family man, who’s living alone in a huge house in expectation that his three sons will return home from the war one of these days. Needless to say, it’s a highly unlikely that they’re still alive after all this time even if they are unaccounted for; however, it did go on to reiterate what kind of a person Sugi is. While things were leading up to that revelation, I loved the fake-out they pulled just prior, where Mario didn’t let Suppon in on the fact that Sugi hired Lily as a live-in maid and had him believing he bought her as a personal prostitute. After hearing Sugi tell Lily that he’s going to lend Suppon the money in accordance to they agreement, I had already started giving the old man the benefit of the doubt though. The fact that she came out in very reserved clothes kind of tipped things off as well, but they sure played up the drama nicely to make viewers think twice.

In addition to having Lily’s situation sorted out, it was nice to see the bond develop between her and Suppon as if they were siblings. For a moment, they actually had me going that she might see him as something more. In particular, it was the tears of happiness she cried after realizing that Suppon’s putting himself in harm’s way to try and make her wish of running a small shop come true. While a relationship clearly wasn’t his intent, Suppon sure can act pretty cool for a little guy. The scene where he came back bruised and battered was the best example of it, because it made a statement when the camera zoomed out and showed Igarashi reluctantly following behind. Suppon sure did a number on Igarashi’s Achilles tendon, which had me wondering how he was still walking around on that foot. Anyway, it was a bit anticlimactic to learn that American doctor’s diagnosis of Suppon didn’t find anything wrong with him, even though he did indicate that symptoms may develop later on. For now, it looks like it’s just the trauma of the atomic bomb experience that’s really plaguing him, which could very well explain why his body locking up and the convulsions. The reassuring thing is that he doesn’t seem to have radiation poisoning, since there likely isn’t any type of cure for in this time period.

With the end of Suppon’s arc, it looks like everyone’s had one since their release from Shonan except Heitai. From the look of things, he’s not going get an arc of his own either. The next episode, and presumably the last one in this adaptation, will focus on Mario trying to get back into boxing with the help of Jeffrey and the American doctor, which would be a good way to end things off. It would be homage to An-chan that’s for sure. The preview itself didn’t actually say it’s the final episode, but the “Over the rainbow” title and lack of scheduling for future weeks suggest as much. Whatever the case, RAINBOW’s been an awesome series up until this point and ending on a promising note is all I want to see now.

 

Preview

9 Comments

  1. It’s a bit of a relief to see the old man doesn’t seem to be another asshole. I’m glad Lilly doesn’t have to go back in the streets but man, Suppon is one hell of a guy and what a great friend he can be. For me right now, aside from Mario and An-chan, this little guy is my favourite in the group.

    Shinjiro
  2. I laughed so much when Jeffrey and Mario were talking: I don’t understand a thing about what you’re telling me bro!”
    Holy shit, Rainbow is the kind of anime which makes me want to check everything about it, I’ll read the manga as soon as the anime ends.Each arc, the author introduces new characters, don’t forget the old ones and it all plays out together for the introduction of the next arc.He’s the kind of guy who writes a story and knows exactly what he’s doing from the beginning to the end. This feeling is the same one I have for Narita Ryohgo.
    And all this goodness will probably end next week!! I don’t wanna nooooooooooooo!!!!I want my Rainboooow
    (also the music for the preview went back to the normal one this week)

    Rockmanshii
  3. What a relief!! I trusted the old guy since the begging and it paid off 🙂 Even thought the Lily/Suppon arc was rosy (I really thought he was a goner by radiation). Both deserve some happiness. Actually so far only Baremoto hasn’t found some happy ending. The good thing is that “happiness” for each guy stays within their own reality. No crap of becoming ultra rich, just the very day to day things that make a person strive to move forward. The only thing preventing this series to get a full perfect score in my book is An-chan and Setsuko endings; but then again real life does means people die and tough decisions.

    Island Esper
  4. I’m also quite deceived Heitai won’t get his own arc. Hell, in the OP, we’ve seen more about his background than in the entire series, haven’t we? (The woman with the knife, I’m assuming his mother)
    But still, that arc was really good. It’s really nice to see Lily being taught a family lesson by a war orphan.

    I’m still holding hope they’ll at least have the decency to release an OVA about Heitai in the near future.

    Ncrdrg

Leave a Reply to Shinjiro Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *